Wildlife biologists with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) have compiled preliminary figures for the 2021-22 hunting season. Bear, deer and fall turkey harvests all decreased from the previous season. According to Dr. Gray Anderson, Wildlife Division Chief, “These decreases could be related to weather and food conditions during the fall. The weather was unusually warm and dry during the early part of the season, which can curtail hunting activity, and acorn crops were variable, which affects how visible game is to hunters. But for the most part, these harvest levels are within the normal range of variation.”
Bears
Hunters reported harvesting 2,988 bears during the 2021–2022 bear hunting seasons in Virginia. The 2021–2022 bear harvest was approximately 14% lower than the harvest the previous year and 16% lower than the statewide harvest reported during the 2019-20 record season; however, it was only 1% lower than the previous 5-year average during 2016–2020.
Deer
During the 2021–2022 deer hunting season, hunters harvested 190,582 deer in Virginia, down approximately 8% from the 208,131 deer taken during the same time frame the previous season. This year’s total included 93,870 antlered bucks, 1,640 bucks that had shed their antlers, 12,101 button bucks, and 82,971 does (44%). The fall 2021 deer harvest numbers were also down 8% from the last ten-year average of 207,630.
Turkeys
A total of 1,644 wild turkeys were harvested in Virginia during the 2021–2022 fall turkey hunting season, a 21.4% decrease over the 2020–2021 harvest of 2,092. The harvest declined equally among counties east and west of the Blue Ridge at 21.6% and 21.2%, respectively.
While Virginia’s turkey population remains robust, fall harvests will fluctuate due to a number of other factors beyond the population size. These factors, which vary across the state, include the length and timing of the fall season, annual variation in reproductive success, acorn abundance, hunting pressure, and weather.